The mouth opens onto a wide rim adorned with Chinese-style dragons in underglaze cobalt blue, gold, yellow and red. Red circles placed midway down the inside of the basin contain dragon, or alternately, jewel motifs painted in red and gold on a yellow-green ground. The space between these circles is filled with a pattern of chrysanthemum flowers within diamond-shaped lozenges. On the outside of the basin are flower arabesques in yellow-green against a red ground and four medallions with alternating phoenix and flowering plant designs. On the bottom of the foot, within a double circle, is the inscription "Da Ming Wanli nienzhi" [Made in the Wanli era of the Ming dynasty]; five spur marks remain. Early Imari pieces like one were imitations of late Ming Chinese gold-painted porcelain or five-color porcelain and wrer aimed at a domestic market.